Saturday, 2 July 2011

It is my honour, privilege and pleasure to announce that my very first novella will be coming out within the next few months! The Guns of Retribution will be published by the super awesome Pulp Press on 24th September 2011, with the Kindle edition coming out slightly earlier.

Some of you may know a bit about my novella already, but I've tried to restrict myself from talking about it on here in case I inadvertently jinxed myself (how's that for promotion?). I'm indebted to Rob Diaz, Carrie Clevenger, Sam Adamson, Jen Brubacher and Adam Byatt for their invaluable assistance during the beta-reading and editing stages. I spent some months writing The Guns of Retribution earlier in the year and I'm so relieved that it'll see the light of day.

The Guns of Retribution is a revenge tale set in the Old West, centered around a young bounty hunter named Grey O'Donnell. You may have heard Grey's name most recently after I described how he came through on a ouija board to say thank you during a paranormal investigation. Accompanied by his apprentice, Billy, and an orphaned Apache named Mahko, Grey is on the trail of Blackjack Bud Hudson, who is wanted for murder. Hudson leads him back to Grey's home town, Retribution, which is now a pit of debauchery run by the crooked sheriff, Jasper Roberts. Grey's return reminds Jasper of their chequered past and they end up on a collision course - only Grey isn't the only one out for Jasper's blood.

Image by http://www.cgpgrey.com/

I set The Guns of Retribution in Arizona, and I did a fair amount of research to ensure that while yes, it's a pulp story, it's also a reasonably accurate one. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it, and working with Grey proved to be an eye-opening experience - he not only chose his own occupation, he also dictated the choice of point of view, and made plenty of plot suggestions of his own. I truly hope you love him, and the book, as much as I do.

Of course, September's still a fair way off, so in the meantime, I can't recommend the other Pulp Press titles enough, particularly Danny Hogan's Jailbait Justice, which I reviewed back in April. It's still only 70p in the UK, and 99c in the US, which is an absolute BARGAIN considering how utterly ace it is.

Thursday, 30 June 2011

I featured my review of Tony Noland's Blood Picnic and other stories anthology back on Tuesday and today is the EXCLUSIVE interview I did with him for the Blunt Pencil. Enjoy!

What made you first pick up a pen and write a story?
I wrote stories as a kid, but it was discouraged. In 2006, after years and years of writing journals and blog posts, I posted a bit of fiction to the blog I had at the time. A reader liked it and challenged me to do NaNoWriMo. I did, successfully. At 50K, it was the first large scale fiction project I’d ever done. After that, I thought, “I can do this.” Of course, only later did I realize that I’d written utter garbage and would have to improve my craft 10,000%, but by then it was too late – I was hooked.

You recently released your Blood Picnic anthology. What prompted your move into the world of self publishing?
I self published “Blood Picnic” for a few reasons. Firstly, while I’ve continued to do my weekly FridayFlash stories, I’ve been working on a novel. It’s been a bit of a slog, and I wanted to put a win on the board to keep my spirits up. Secondly, the novel isn’t done yet, not even close, but in the course of writing it, I have been keeping tabs on the publishing situation in general. Self publishing “Blood Picnic” gave me a chance to see what it takes to organize, edit, format (and re-format and re-re-format…), and market a book by myself. This whole thing was done as a learning exercise so I can make an informed decision about what publishing route to take with my novel(s). Thirdly, I’ve always wanted to do a book cover, and this gave me a chance to indulge my graphic arts side.

You have work in various published anthologies, as well as your own. What are your thoughts on the self-publishing boom compared to the traditional publishing paradigm?
It’s brought a tremendous freedom to writers and readers. In the past, print books with a limited run would be horrifically expensive. Now, e.books that reach out to niche markets can go for the same prices as other e.books. One concern that is coming to the fore is the issue of quality. I don’t mean the quality of the writing. Sturgeon’s Law is still in effect: 90% of self published books are crap, but 90% of everything is crap. There have been plenty of dreadful, schlocky, forgettable books published by traditional means, and some truly excellent ones published by indie presses and by self publishers. The key element that is missing from the self publishing boom is some indicator that the basic requirements of professionalism have been met: decent cover, spelling, grammar, margins, line and page breaks, etc. Recent concerns about spam books clogging Amazon may just be a taste of what’s to come. One possible example for a “seal of quality” is the Premium Catalog at Smashwords. Almost any book can be self published at Smashwords, but only a small subset meets the stricter requirements for the Premium Catalog. I was pleased that “Blood Picnic” made it in the Premium Catalog, not only because it broadened the distribution for the book, but because that’s a high hurdle to clear. It gave me confidence that the mechanicals were taken care of to professional standards.

Blood Picnic covers a range of genres - which would you say is your favourite to write?
I like writing literary fiction. Bloodthirsty demons and magic rings are fun to write about, but human emotions make the very best playthings.

Who would you consider to be your influences, either in terms of style or content?
P.G. Wodehouse made every word count, to great hilarious effect. Stephen King goes right up to the line of what’s acceptable then goes vaulting over it. Jane Austen hinted and suggested. Harry Turtledove starts with an idea and lets the story tell itself. C.S. Forester made his protagonist both sympathetic and infuriating. Isaac Asimov had galactic sweep and vision peppered with humor along the way. Charles Dickens made characters come alive through idiosyncrasies. David Brin knows that alien worlds are only as interesting as the aliens who live there. Richard Rhodes took the technical and made it personal.

Do you have a writing routine?
If I did, I’m sure I’d be more productive.

You also write posts for the Write Anything blog. Would you ever write a "how to" book?
Until I have more published – stories, poems, anthologies, novels - and have significant sales of same, I can’t see myself writing a how-to book. Right now I give my advice away for free. Before charging anyone for a compendium of my wit and wisdom, I would need to be sure that people had a reason to trust my judgment.

Tell us about how you came to the attention of Neil Gaiman.
In January 2011, I wrote a story titled “Where the Hell is Tony’s #FridayFlash?”, which starred Neil Gaiman. It was a funny piece featuring lots of famous writers and celebrities as massive fans of mine: John Scalzi, Wil Wheaton, Susan Orlean, Margaret Atwood, President Barack Obama, etc. They were all desperate to read my next story and were DMing Neil Gaiman, another huge Tony Noland fan, to find out if he knew anything. I wrote the story as a lark, just having wish-fulfillment fun with the idea of these leading figures as uber-fanboi of The Great Tony Noland. Via twitter, the story came to the attention of Neil, with the suggestion that he might take issue with his name and inner thoughts being used so freely. Neil tweeted me to say, “I thought it was really funny. No objections here.” As you can imagine, I was pleased that a) he liked it and b) he didn’t see the need to sue me.

Later, when I was discussing “Blood Picnic” with someone on twitter, I was asked why “Where the Hell…” wasn’t included, since it was one of this reader’s favorites. I noted that it made extensive use of Neil; while he was nice about it all, I didn’t want to push it. He tweeted me again to say, “I wouldn’t have minded. I liked the flash.” (Let me go on record here to say that I want to be as cool as Neil Gaiman when I grow up.) I get a little lift whenever I think of these interactions. Writers go through periods of wondering just how sucky their work is. These serve as a useful benchmark for me, to remind me that people who know good writing from bad can read my work and like it. As it happens, there are other reasons that story wasn’t really right for “Blood Picnic”, and might be tricky to fit into any anthology. Regardless, “Where the Hell…” has a special place in my heart.

What are your three favourite words?
Syzygy, gravitas and yttrium.

Wildcard question - if you were Dr Sam Beckett, which contemporary figure's life would you want to quantum leap into?
President Barack Obama. There is so very, very much more going on behind the scenes that the public doesn’t get to see. All of it is so important and impactful, I would love to get an inside look at it all. Of course, given the way Sam Beckett fumbled his way through those Leaps, I’d probably start a war.

Book infoBlood Picnic and other stories is a mixture of fantasy, horror and literary fiction, priced at $2.99. It’s available for many formats at Smashwords, and in device-specific formats at Amazon, Amazon-UK, Amazon-DE, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo, Diesel Books, and other outlets.

Author info
Tony Noland is a writer, blogger and poet in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA. He’s active on Twitter as @TonyNoland. Tony’s writing and fiction blog is http://www.TonyNoland.com.

Tuesday, 28 June 2011

If you're part of the Friday Flash phenomenon, then you will no doubt have come across the work of the very talented Tony Noland. If you're not, then his new Blood Picnic and other stories anthology gives you the chance to discover exactly how good he is.

Anthologies are sometimes accused of having a lack of focus, but not so here. Blood Picnic is divided into four "chapters" - Tales of the Heavens, which contains six fantasy stories; Tales of the Earth, which contains eight literary fiction stories; Tales of the Moon, which collects six horror stories; and Tales of the Sun, which includes eight magical realism stories. Indeed, a hallmark of Tony's style is his verstatility, although his "voice" comes through strongly to add coherence to the diversity on display.

My own personal favourites are the superhero tale, Grey Ghost Gone; Straight and True, My Arrow, Fly, in which a pair of lovers discover the difference between love and lust; Aspirations, in which the extent of a young man's insecurities are laid bare; Ridi, Pagliaccio, in which a fading star tells a chilling story; Long Story, in which a desperate man tests the strength of duct tape; and Reconciliation, in which a penitent man tries to rejoin his family. The themes are varied and the endings are both happy and sad, but the strength of storytelling is self-evident, and the stories are clearly the work of a talented writer.

I had the privilege of seeing this anthology in its original form, and it's my absolute pleasure to be able to feature the finished article on my blog. I can't stress enough how enjoyable these stories are, with their intelligent plotting and deft wordplay. Tony has a vivid imagination and a true mastery of the written word, and I guarantee you'll find something to love in this collection.

Blood Picnic is available from Amazon and Smashwords for the princely sum of $2.99. I'll be featuring an interview with Tony on Thursday, so stay tuned!

Monday, 27 June 2011

If you want to use the prompt, all I ask is that you include a link to this entry and a credit to me for the photograph, and that you post a link to your story in the comments box below so I can see what you've come up with! If you don't comment on this entry, then I can't comment on your story.

The thirty-ninth prompt is Colliery Cart.

All photo prompts are my own photography - you can find more of it on Flickr. You can also buy my prints from Deviantart. 20% of all proceeds go to charity - the other 80% go towards my PhD fees!

Copyright

All written content and photographic prompts are under copyright to Icy Sedgwick (or respective guest posters) and therefore can't be copied and posted elsewhere, unless you're quoting directly from posts and providing links to the original.

Theft is theft, so let's all play nicely.

Bio

Icy Sedgwick was born in the North East of England, and is based in Newcastle. She has been writing for over ten years, and had her first book, a Western named The Guns of Retribution, published through Pulp Press in September 2011. She spends her non-writing time working on a PhD in Film Studies, knitting, baking and making jewellery.

The Guns of Retribution

The search for a murderous outlaw has brought the long roving Grey O’Donnell near to his hometown of Retribution, Arizona. Bounty hunters ain’t popular but old fashioned manners, kindness to regular folk and a face for the ladies make Grey an exception round these parts; and a six gun’ll take care of the rest. Anyway, Grey has a job to do elsewhere. But, the odious Jasper Roberts has made himself Sheriff of Retribution and he has a score to settle with Grey. Jasper ain’t gonna let morals or the law get in the way of a good hanging and the townsfolk are cowed by their villainous lawman. Can you really mess with a man’s momma and get away with it? Sometimes there is more than one bullet with your name on it.

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Checkmate & Other Stories

Fifteen previously published stories, collected together for the first time, spanning fantasy, horror, sci fi and speculative fiction. Among other things, Bleed Them Dry puts a new spin on vampires, talking corpses tell their side in The Dead Do Listen, a little girl is fascinated with an antique that hides a dark side in The Mirror Phase, and a devilish game of chess goes wrong in Checkmate.

The First Tale

A vaguely steampunk adventure, set in the fictional city of Vertigo. The Resistance is pitted against the shadowy Weimar Corporation that runs the City. Their stalemate is broken by the death of a suspected infiltrator, setting Resistance Commander Liss Hunt and her bewildered companion Philip Wiseman on a journey into the depths of both organisations to discover the truth behind who - or what - is really running the City. Featuring automatons, mad scientists, chases, a gun-toting heroine and even the Living Dead, The First Tale is a short novella that proves people are not always what they seem.

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